Severe Weather Alert for La Cañada Flintridge, CA

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE - An intense rainstorm caught county authorities and residents by surprise early Saturday morning, leading to debris flows that damaged 43 homes and prompted evacuation orders for more than 800 homes.

The storm caused debris flows and evacuations across the foothills from La Crescenta to Sierra Madre, but much of the most serious damage was centered in the La Cañada Flintridge foothill neighborhood called Paradise Valley, located at the top of Ocean View Boulevard.

At least a foot of debris was reported in some houses. Family photographs, furniture and other personal items were spotted among the rocks and debris.

Heavy rains overflowed debris basins, including the Mullally Basin at the top of  Ocean View, carrying away K-rails and damaging at least 25 cars, which were swept away by mud flows.

County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who toured the Paradise Valley area Saturday, likened it to a "war zone.''

"I was really shocked by what I saw,'' Antonovich said. "The homes destroyed, automobiles pushed out of the way by the storms, the mudslides moving heavy concrete barriers ... it was as if you were at Universal Studios on a studio tour seeing a war zone set.''

The mud began flowing around 4 a.m. Saturday morning on Ocean View.

Based on available weather forecasts, authorities simply didn't expect the storm to be that intense, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Michael P. Freeman.

"The storm did not perform according to prediction,'' Freeman said at a Saturday afternoon press conference.

By the time county authorities were aware of the intensity of the rain, it was too late for many to evacuate.

Rather than immediately ordering evacuations, the department initially told residents to take shelter within their homes and avoid going outside, Freeman said.

Many area residents were just as shocked by the ferocity of the storm.

"I've never seen it this bad and I've been here 16 years,'' La Cañada Flintridge resident Patti Miller said as she stared at mud flowing through the streets. ``This has never happened before.''

Not everyone followed the orders to stay inside. Paradise Valley resident Dale Readis woke up to the sound of the debris flow early Saturday morning.

"I thought it was thunder at first,'' Readis said.

He braved the debris flow early Saturday morning to check in on his neighbor.

As he tried to get back to his home, the rain and the volume of mud and debris picked up in intensity, and almost carried away the 6-foot-tall man.

"I had to climb in a tree to save my life,'' Readis said.

Most foothill residents had evacuation orders lifted on Saturday night, but residents in roughly 60 homes in Paradise Valley were told to stay away.

More rain was in the forecast throughout Saturday night, although flash-flood warnings were not expected by forecasters.

"There will be a couple of showers but they'll be very small,'' said Eric Boldt, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

County public works crews were working Saturday night to clear mud from the streets and to try to begin to clear out debris basins that are filled to the brim.

More rain is forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Of the 43 homes damaged in the county, 31 are expected to have light damage, with 12 having more serious damage, according to county authorities.

La Cañada Flintridge Mayor Laura Olhasso said that nine homes in her city were ``red-tagged,'' meaning that the structures are too damaged for residents to return until repairs are done.

In addition, said Olhasso, a preschool on Foothill Boulevard in the city had serious flooding damage.

County Fire Captain Mark Savage said that county authorities did not yet have a detailed picture of where all the damaged homes are, but said that the bulk of the destruction occurred in the Paradise Valley area. In that area, many residents stayed behind to try and save their homes, and help neighbors.

There was also damage in several other nearby neighborhoods: Several homes on Escalante Drive had property damage, including one that was buried nearly up to its windows.

Several people also had mud flow into their homes on Arroyo Summit Drive, a small cul-de-sac in the residential area off the Angeles Crest Highway.

Tammi Woodhouse, who lives on that cul-de-sac, had 2 to 3 feet of mud enter her home early Saturday morning. She said the home was not structurally damaged, and came through better than her neighbors'.

"We feel very fortunate,'' Woodhouse said on Saturday night. ``We need to dry the house out, and do some work on it, but we've got water and power, and we'll be fine.''

The Woodhouses were not the only people who were helped out by people in the community.

Steve Brown, 52, said he helped his neighbor escape her mud-filled home after she was trapped upstairs.

"There were logs floating in her living room,'' Brown said.

A 91-year-old woman who could not walk was also evacuated with the help of her neighbors.

The La Cañada Flintridge neighborhoods were the most threatened by the storm because of their direct exposure to burn areas from last summer's Station Fire, which burned roughly 250 square miles in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Antonovich, who has criticized the firefighting efforts for months, said again Saturday that flooding damage from burn areas could have been avoided if the U.S. Forest Service had been more aggressive in fighting the Station Fire.

"Hopefully the federal government will respond and make reforms so we won't have the same problems of inaction in the next fire,'' Antonovich said.